Virtual boy group PLAVE seem to be having a hell of a time

PLAVE are a five-member virtual boy group under VLAST, who debuted recently on March 12 with single “Wait For You“, and they were also recently on Music Core.

The song is actually quite solid, but that’s not what I made this post for, rather it was their messy livestreams that Yaaaaaas put me onto.

@needy.films AHAHAH THEY ARE SO FUNNY STAN PLAVE YALL🫶🏼‼️ @plave_official #plave #plavekpop #bamby #hamin #noahplave #bambyplave #haminplave #vtuber #aiidol #aikpop #kpop #fyp ♬ Cupid (Twin Ver.) – FIFTY FIFTY

See, if you’re going to do virtual groups, it’s a necessity that you lean into the things they can do but regular idols can’t (whether physically as humans or socially as idols), and PLAVE seem to be tackling things right.

@soonyyyah sexy rover + twerking tutorial by yejun and eunho #plave #plavekpop #eunho #yejun #plaveeunho #plaveyejun #kpopfyp ♬ Rover – KAI

They seem to get that the absurdity that’s allowed for them due to the freedom that anonymity grants is the primary appeal.

@rein.deer7 It's Bamby's turn to glitch #plave #plavekpop #bamby #hamin #yejun #vtuber #kpop #fyp #foryoupage ♬ original sound – Rein

The look of the guy in the black as the glitcher walks past him the second time is gold.

Do you even need to understand everything if you get the gochu mention?

——

Anyway, I mainly enjoy that they seem to be leaning into the VTuber aspect of all this, complete with streams and gaming and all that stuff, which feels like a more realistic way of appealing to their target audience and carving out their own niche in K-pop.

Despite concerns about this stuff eventually transitioning to AI and cutting humans out of the equation all together, as long as there are real people behind the avatars and the avatars themselves aren’t trying to uncanny valley their way into being human, it can be pretty entertaining.